In 1996, NASA astronaut Dr. Jeff Hoffman brought a small Torah scroll on board Space Shuttle Columbia. On Shabbat, while orbiting Earth, he read from the book of Genesis, “In the beginning God created heaven and the earth.”

This is a story about inspiration, communities, and a man’s journey. A story of how family, educators, scientific and religious communities achieve great things and bring our identity to new realms.

The Space Torah Project aims to preserve the extraordinary story in American and Jewish history and share it with communities around the world.

The program will include an introduction by Rachel Raz, founder of the Space Torah Project and Executive Producer of the film.  The film screening will be followed by Q&A with Dr. Jeff Hoffman and Dr. Victor Schneider, Jeff's physician at NASA and B'nai Israel member.

• DR. JEFF HOFFMAN became a NASA Astronaut in 1978. He participated in five space missions, becoming the first astronaut to log 1,000 hours of flights aboard the space shuttles. Dr. Hoffman has performed four spacewalks, including the first unplanned, contingency spacewalk in NASA’s history and the initial repair/rescue mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. He was the first Jewish American male astronaut to fly into space.  Over his five space missions, Dr. Hoffman chose to bring numerous Jewish objects with him. The highlight , featured in the film, is a small and light Torah scroll that he took with him on his fifth and final mission. Dr. Hoffman saw the act of bringing religious objects into space as a way for him to bring his personal tradition with him. However, the meaning of these acts extend well beyond. By bringing the Torah with him, Dr. Hoffman added deeper symbolic meaning and significance to the act of bringing the holiness of human life to space.
• RACHEL RAZ (Founder & Executive Producer) is an entrepreneurial educator and the founder of multiple initiatives with global reach. She is a consultant and a frequent invited speaker for many organizations around the globe. Rachel initiated and led the making of the Space Torah film and project to both preserve the extraordinary story in American and Jewish history and to share it with communities around the world. She now offers programs with the film to inspire and to promote deep conversations about identity, values, life goals, and beyond.

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